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Nigeria to spend over N100, 000,000 on dogs in 2013

By David Abellegah on October 13, 2012

Budget details show that, the Nigerian police will spend N110, 179,250 next year on dogs. N55, 065,000 for the procurement of dog handling equipment and feeding, the construction of Force Headquarters dogs’ section barracks will cost N9, 915,194 and N45, 199,056m for the development of Police Veterinary Dogs Breeding Centre at the FHQ, Abuja.

President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim will spend N1.59bn on welfare packages in 2013.

According to the Budget presented by the President, the three principal officers, Jonathan, Sambo and Anyim would spend N1.59bn on an undefined item tagged ‘welfare packages’.

It is however, not clear whether the ‘welfare packages’ involves diverse expenses such as transportation of visitors to government officials and so on.

In a breakdown, the SGF office will spend N1.07bn, which is more than the Presidential and the VP’s office, which will both spend N355.9m and N160.83m respectively.

The nation will spend close to a billion naira, N990.24m to be precise, on the President and his VP’s feeding in 2013.

While N110m is budgeted for feeding Police dogs in the 2013, Jonathan will spend N406, 738,969 on foodstuffs and catering materials.

The President’s cooking gas will cost N13, 420,750 and N327, 154,931 for refreshment and meals in the State House. N112, 500,000 will be spent on Foodstuffs and catering materials, and N123, 402,499 for Refreshment and meals at the VP’s office in 2013.

The President said, because of dwindling resources the Federal Government would try to save cost.

He said, “The uncertainty surrounding the global economy, which could have adverse effects on commodity prices, highlights the downside risks for our economy. The oil market is well known for its volatility. We recall the 2008 experience at the height of the global economic downturn when oil prices fell almost overnight from $147 per barrel to $38 per barrel.”

“This threat of oil price volatility remains constant and underscores the need to rely on a robust and prudent methodology to estimate the benchmark price. The global economic slowdown can also have far-reaching implications for the demand for our export commodities, given that the Euro zone and the United States of America account for over 50 per cent of the nation’s crude oil exports.

“These global developments are also being transmitted to our economy through a dampening effect on foreign capital inflows and remittances by Diaspora Nigerians. These are uncertain times in the world economy, and my administration is continuing to take necessary steps to mitigate possible adverse effects of the global economic slowdown on Nigeria.

“In spite of these, our economy has done relatively well. Over the past nine months, through a number of initiatives, we have created new jobs directly and supported many young entrepreneurs running SMEs to create jobs.”